MennoR

Next week marks the 10th anniversary of my 3A’s restoration finish! I’ve kept a logbook since day #1 and that’s how I found out. Coffee and cake, I tell you. 10 yrs of virtually trouble-free motoring (knock on wood). Only hiccup was a leaky radiator two winters back. I planning to treat myself / my car: a present. Currently, the car is on w/wheels. Great look perhaps, I am always under the impression that it’s not ideal. That’s why I’m drawn to Minilites (or replicas). Having said that, I’m also drawn to the idea of ditching the windscreen and go ‘hardcore’ with only a set of Brooklands! Interested to hear (read) your ideas of splashing out for a nice ‘present’

A dentist or not, he's not a nice chap, to begin with. Menno

My neighbour who lives in the lane parallel to mine is a Dentist. Used to buy a new R/Rover every year and has a Porsche in the garage. About 5 yrs ago, he was no longer 'able' to buy a new car, due to the fact that dentists were 'wrung' by the insurance companies. Sadly for him, his lamentation didn't land here... Medical care is still extremely expensive - but not on doctor's wages. Nurses' wages, high end machinery cost a lot of money. A friend of mine is a self-employed financial controller for hospitals and medical care in general. His idea of cutting costs are pretty down-to-earth: "Top of the range operating theatres are idle during the evening, night and weekends. Doctors don't want to work those hours! Better use of that material (once bought) can cut costs!" What these older dentist did: selling their practice + patients to younger people for over-the-top money. Millions sometimes; being their pension. The new dentists had to charge weird money to earn back that money. Now it is not longer allowed to charge that. Some dentists have gone bankrupt due to the fact that they've paid too much. Some university friends of my wife are dentists. One of them is struggling to keep 'afloat': practice, rent, assistants etc It takes a lot of money. Finally, a sailing-mom (her sons sails in the NL National Squad) used to run her own dentist practice. She has moved to the university as a lector; better earnings, no more fuss. Menno

In the Netherlands, everybody is insured. It is mandatory, but you can choose your own insurance company. Something car insurance. Sort of semi-privatised. Costs are about 90 euros/month, but you can choose more expensive insurance. Children under 18 are FoC. All are covered with that. Free GP, free hospital etc. There's an annual 350 euro threshold (pay it yourself before insurance pics up the remaining bill) for special things like teeth-whitening etc. Seeing a doctor is no problem: the same day. Hospital is mostly within a week (when it's not something 'bad'). Waiting times in the hospitals etc is never more than 30mins. Casualty Ward is longer of course. Doctors, pharmacists, dentists - you name it, are all LTDs over here. A few years back, those one-man-band LTDs earned up to 1M euros annually. So the costs of medical care were extremely high. Aforementioned insurance companies + the government refused to pay that sort of money anymore and now these LTDs have to make a living out of a modest 300/350K annually. Menno

Not my experience: 80K kms trouble-free motoring with the oil feed. That included various trips to the Alps and North Spain in the summer (that was before I had kids). My biggest concern was sun block... After I'd sold the car in 2003, it kept on performing - but now I have lost track of the car. It still exists and runs (MoT'ed - Dutch version)

Put the cardboards between the engine and the wheels back, including the ones in front of the radiator. Those boards 'guide' the airstream from the fan all to the back of the engine. Especially the last cylinder (the one close to the bulkhead) is the one that needs attention (cooling). Currently, with modern-day fuels, which generate more heat than the ones in the past, I would consider the installation of an oil feed line into the cylinder head.

Are you sure it's only plastic? Here it is called Uponor, however...other brands are available. We use that stuff here since the mid-90s and it is actually metal pipe with a plastic cover. So-called 'more layers piping'. Proper brands have special fittings / connectors to connect the Uponor to copper or the faucets. A proper supplier will rent out or even lend you a professional cutter and press for all the connectors you need to attach. Menno

I had a pageant blue '78 Spitfire for years. The only downfall were the waxstat carbs. The guy who'd previously owned my Spit was a really skilled mechanic and he'd overhauled the carbs and had come up with his own solution for that: leaving the outside untouched, but he'd totally revised the inside. An oil cooler is a good idea. I would recommend a fine metal mesh in front of the cooler: somehow these low-positioned coolers attract stones! One tiny pebble ruins your trip! (Don't ask how I know...) Cooling is always somewhat of a problem. A proper wide radiator and an elec fan (salvage yard!) do the trick. Even the position of the license plate is something to consider!. Ultimately, after almost 10 yrs, I sold the car to buy the TR3A I currently own (since 2003).

Over on the other forum where I found the 'Joe Lucas' postings, there was another interesting posting. Someone stated that he was glad to see that the pilot and co-pilot had parachutes and ejection seats to get out (contrair to the Lancaster bombers before the Vulcan). Then some replied...

Mine is still for sale. I'm contemplating about another elderly person car/toy: a camper... but that's still in the back of my mind. Have a great weekend! Menno

Over on another forum, a guy posted some pics of a Vulcan bomber. He also added some pics of the 'intestines' of that plane. The colour coding looks remarkable familiar... so does the routing of the cables. The absence of grommets where the wiring goes through the metal housing, worries me... I'm proud to say that my TR's wiring loom looks a lot tidier than this!

Powder blue is always great!! Best colour in fact. Menno

No, I didn't and you're right! Best to do that next year then!

Yes. Have a look at the pic. The guy is sitting on what we call a 'wheel-scooter' or 'auto-scooter'. Somehow, I was under the impression that it is a universal name for that contraption.

I thought about that too. I will have the wheels balanced locally. Luckily for me, that shop is regarded to be the best in the country. There's always a bunch of exotica there for alignment and balancing. Since my car is on w/wheels I'm going to discuss the possibility of balancing them on the car, with a 'scooter'. Menno